Brassieres



March 1, 1960 P, s R uss 2,926,669

BRASSIERES Filed May 5, 1958 I INVENTOR. 727W 02% BY if United StatesPatent BRASSIERES Maud P. Strauss, Oakland, Calif.

Application May 5, 1958, Serial No. 733,182

2 Claims. (Cl. 128-510) This invention relates to improvements in womensgarments, and is specifically applicable to brassieres though theinvention can also be applied to slips and the like, and providesshoulder strap supported garment in which the shoulder straps willremain on the shoulders, eliminating the provocative slipping of theshoulder straps off the shoulders, while coincidently, in the case of abrassiere, providing better support for the breasts, thus contributingto comfort, confidence, and convenience.

The conventional shoulder strap supported brassiere has the shoulderstraps passing parallel over the shoulders and down and back and front,in other words, the attachment of the shoulder straps at the front arethe same distance apart as those at the back, and since a personsshoulders slope outwardly and downwardly, the strap readily slipsdownwardly and off the shoulder, so that it is quite common to see womenreaching for and bringing the shoulder strap back on their shoulders.

It is because of those mentioned discomforts and inconveniences, as alsosome embarrassment, that this invention was evolved, and provides theutmost in confidence and comfort.

The objects and advantages of the invention are as follows:

First, to provide a shoulder-strap supported garment with shoulderstraps which will not slip off the shoulders.

Second, to provide a garment as outlined which re quires no additionalparts or labor in their production.

Third, to provide a garment as outlined in the form of a brassiere, inwhich the shoulder straps are retained against slipping off theshoulders while simultaneously providing better and more comfortablesupport for the breasts of the wearer.

Fourth, to provide a brassiere with shoulder straps, the front ends ofwhich are secured over the breast cups, while the back ends of which aredownwardly convergent for diagonal reaction to the shoulder in adirection to urge the shoulder strap toward the neck of the wearer.

In describing the invention reference will be had to the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front view of a brassiere showing the front ends of theshoulder straps attached in the conventional way to the tops of the cupsand provided with adjustment for the length of the strap.

Fig. 2 is a back view of the brassiere showing the ex- Patented Mar. 1,1960 and 13 each of which is provided with adjusting means 14 and 15 foradjusting the length of the straps to suit the shoulders of the wearer16. V

The brassiere may be of either, the front'closing type as indicated at17, or back closing type as indicated at 18, the portions so fardescribed being of conventional manufacture.

The invention resides in the back portions of the shoulder straps,which, instead of running substantially parallel, for example, with thestrap 12 connected at 19, and the strap 13 connected at 20, these strapsare downwardly converged at the back as indicated at 21 in Fig. 2, andat 22 in Fig. 3.

In Fig. 2, the crossing is illustrated at a maximum, and these strapsmay be attached at any points up to the center at 23 and is best suitedfor front closing brassieres illustrated in Fig. 1 at 37, theirapplication to the back closing brassiere shown in Fig. 3 requiring thestraps to be slipped over the head unless they are made detachable at 24on the front, however, this crossed type of shoulder straps provides themost comfortable and best support for the breasts because of thediagonal pull indicated at 25 and which extends directly to and over theshoulders to increase the lift on the cups and tension the band aboutthe lower portions of the cups.

The type illustrated in Fig. 3 is best suited to the back closing typeof brassiere, the shoulder straps being preferably attached adjacent tothe closure 18 as indicated at 26 and 27, thus being downwardlyconvergent on the back. This type is as conveniently and easily appliedto the person as are conventional brassieres, the convergence of theshoulder straps being ample to retain the shoulder straps on theshoulders.

I claim:

1. A brassiere having a band having a front portion, under-arm portions,and a back portion including shoulder strap connecting portions, andhaving cups formed in the front portion, with the back portion havingthe top edge formed diagonally inwardly and upwardly from the underarmportions to provide shoulder strap connections, with the interveningback portion between the shoulder strap connections curvedly reduced inwidth to substantially that of the underarm portions for greaterresiliency, and a pair of shoulder straps respectively attached at oneend to the tops of the respective cups with the other ends crossed overthe back and connected to opposite shoulder strap connections, with thecrossed shoulder straps substantially forming a continuation of thediagonally inwardly and upwardly formed top edges, whereby the shoulderstraps are maintained on the shoulders of the wearer and provide tensionfrom the shoulders through the underarm portions to the undersides ofthe cups for more exacting and comfortable support of the breasts andsimultaneously reducing tension across the back between the connections.

2. A structure as defined in claim 1, in which the increase in width ofthe shoulder strap connection portion is substantially 50 percent formore comfortable application to the shoulder blade area of the wearer.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,671,217 Studler Mar. 9, 1954

